This invention relates to an improved method and apparatus for processing poultry gizzards, and more particularly relates to an improved gizzard harvester and method of operation therefor which automatically processes poultry gizzards on a high speed, mass production basis.
The processing of poultry gizzards into condition for use and consumption requires that the gizzards be opened and cleaned; the contaminating contents removed; the stomach and gut or intestines trimmed off the gizzard; and the interior lining or membrane skinned off and discarded. These steps are necessary because the processed gizzards must pass rigorous quality and hygiene standards imposed by the industry and by governmental agencies and regulations. If any of the above treatments are not thoroughly and properly completed, the resulting product may be of low quality, or may be contaminated so as to fail inspection. There is thus a constant search for improvements in the method and apparatus for processing gizzards which would meet rigorous quality and hygiene standards applicable in this field.
Other requirements for harvesting gizzards are that the activity must be conducted efficiently and economically on a high-speed, mass production basis, with a minimum of hand labor. The high speeds are necessary so that the harvester apparatus and process handles gizzards at a speed which is compatible with the increasingly higher line speeds utilized in modern poultry processing plants. For example, poultry processing plant line speeds have increased in recent times from approximately 50 units per minute to 70 to 75 units per minute. The expectation is that line speeds will be raised even higher in the future, because of the pressures of economics and the need for increased efficiency.
Competitive commercial and economic considerations dictate that in increasing the speed of the machine, the yield of the product should not be compromised. For after all, no overall advantage is gained if the processed quantity increases, but a higher percentage of it is unacceptable. However, processing plants readily recognize that, despite the sizeable capital investments involved, a machine capable of increased speed and product yield possesses a large competitive edge over low cost machines with medium speed or yield.
To perform these gizzard processing functions at high-speed and high yield levels, the functions of the machine and process must be integrated for a smooth and continuous operation, and the utilization of hand labor must be minimized. Moreover, whatever manual labor that is needed should be unskilled labor. In addition, the processing apparatus should be compact in design to operate in a minimum space within a poultry processing plant. Likewise, all of the needed processing steps should be performed with a minimum number of machines. The process and apparatus should also minimize the gizzard rejects due to improper or inadequate processing, and thereby increase the yield from the operation.
Prior gizzard harvesters and processes which have attempted to meet the foregoing criteria, have met with varying degrees of success. The present invention meets these criteria by providing an improved apparatus and process which handles poultry gizzards on a mass production basis with a minimum of unskilled hand labor, and with a compact design which permits the processing to be accomplished at substantially high line speeds and yields. For example, the present invention minimizes hand labor requirements by providing an apparatus and process which operates on gizzards having attached stomachs and intestines. Thus, the hand labor needed to cut off the stomach and/or the intestines from the gizzard with other machines has been eliminated.
In addition, the invention eliminates the criticality of the condition in which the gizzards are introduced into the harvester. In accordance with this invention, the gizzards having the stomach and intestines attached can be pulled from the poultry by unskilled labor, and the gizzard and the attached portions can be randomly fed into the harvesting machine. The processing operation is thereby initiated without the need to be concerned with the initial orientation of the gizzards. Rather, the randomly fed gizzards will be arranged automatically into the desired predetermined orientation by the operation of the harvester.
Many of the features and advantages of the present invention accrue because complete and accurate control of the gizzards is established and maintained at all stages of the operation. At the initial stages of operation of the harvester, the control of the gizzards is accomplished by utilizing the stomach and intestines attached to the gizzards. Once such initial control of the gizzards is obtained, and the gizzards are oriented into a desired position, the attached stomach and intestines are removed, and the gizzards are controlled by other means throughout the remaining operations of the harvester. The subsequent operations function to completely open and clean the gizzard; to trim the tender lining from each gizzard which remains after the stomach and intestines have been sheared; and to peel the interior membrane or lining from each gizzard.
Yield is optimized when the gizzard is properly manipulated into an orientation which permits the processing operation to cut, slit and clean that part of the gizzard which is presented to the mechanics of the machine. For instance, while a gizzard may be slit along one of many axes to remove the waste, one cut along the short axis of the gizzard body permits it to be opened for exposing the maximum lining area for cleaning purposes, as well as to permit easy removal of the lining. Also, a lengthwise slit which leaves the attached nib of the gut disposed at the front of the oriented gizzard facilitates a reliable removal of the nib as it proceeds to the nib removing station. A mishap in any one of these operations results in decreased yield and, if the misprocessed gizzard can be salvaged, additional manual labor would be necessary.
Briefly described, the advantages and features of the present invention are provided by a poultry gizzard harvesting apparatus which is adapted to process composite gizzards having portions including the stomach and the intestines attached. The use of expensive hand labor is minimized because the gizzards can be removed directly from the poultry and dropped into the machine in a random arrangement. The hand trimming of stomachs and/or intestines, and the attendant costs and problems, are thereby eliminated. The harvester receives a plurality of composite gizzards and feeds them into a feeding and aligning station. This feeding and aligning station includes in-feed roller means for engaging the stomach and the intestines to apply an initial spatial orienting force to each gizzard. The in-feed roller means acts upon each composite gizzard and stomach to position it in this initial spatial orientation, and also transports the composite gizzard laterally along a predetermined path through the harvester, while maintaining control over the orientation of the gizzard.
After the randomly-fed gizzards are spatially oriented by the infeed roller means, the gizzards are acted upon by retarding and separator means adjacent the in-feed roller means. The retarding means is adapted to impede the movement of each gizzard to the extent necessary to advance the composite gizzards in a spaced apart seriatim fashion while the in-feed roller means maintains the first orienting force applied through the stomach and intestines. In accordance with this invention, the first orienting force applied by the in-feed roller means, and the second orienting force applied by the retarding means, cooperate to arrange each gizzard into a predefined spaced arrangement for further processing.
The harvester pursuant to this invention also includes means for securing the body of each gizzard in this predefined spaced position while the gizzards are conveyed along the processing path within the harvester. Once the gizzards are so secured, a shearing station provided in the processing path functions to simultaneously remove the attached stomach and intestines from each gizzard. The removal of the stomach and intestines occurs automatically after the gizzard is secured by the securing means in the predefined position. The shearing station removes the stomach and intestines by shearing closely to the body of the gizzard to minimize the residual tender lining or nib of the stomach and intestines remaining on the gizzard. At this point, orientation control over the gizzard by the in-feed roller means is lost, but control is maintained on the gizzard body by the securing means, and transported downstream by such means toward the next processing station.
While so secured, a third orientation and transport means rotates the gizzard so that it can be presented to a slitting means thereby assuring that the gizzard will be opened widthwise along its body, and assuring that the gizzard will be transported nib forward. Orientation control of the gizzard body by the securing means terminates at the slitting station, whereupon control is had by another transport means which directs the slit gizzards to a spreader means positioned adjacent the path of travel. Here, the slit gizzard is opened to expose the interior lining or membrane and the contents of the gizzard. Flushing means then flush out the interior of the opened gizzard to remove the contaminants.
Thereafter, the gizzard is transported nib-forward toward a primary shearing means engagable with the fore edge of each gizzard to remove the residual tender lining or nib to which the stomach and intestines had been attached. Such a trimming of the tender lining increases the yield of the machine by eliminating the tender lining as a source of contamination. The harvester provides primary peeler means to engage with and remove the tender lining or nib and peel the interior membrane or lining from each gizzard.
Orientation control of each gizzard, after having been peeled, is no longer necessary and is thereby terminated, whereby each gizzard is then randomly directed to a secondary shearer and peeler station. At this stage of the process there is one last chance to remove residual gizzard nibs with secondary shearing means and residual interior membranes with secondary peeler means. These residual parts may be the result of microprocessing, disfiguration or odd-sized gizzards. Yield is increased and optimized accordingly. The secondary peeler means is effective to remove any remaining residue of inner membranes, and also any fatty tissue normally occurring on the outer surface of the gizzard body. This is accomplished by tamper means which applies a tamping pressure to the gizzards tumbling between the peeler roller means and tamper. The gizzard is then prepared for further processing or consumption.